Writing and English Literature

Writing and English literature together explore what language can do: how stories are built, what makes them work, and how the tradition of English writing from the medieval period to the present shapes and is shaped by the societies that produced it. Creative writing asks you to develop your own practice across different forms, while literary study asks you to read other writers closely and to understand what they have achieved. Studied together they make you a more attentive writer and a more imaginative reader.

At Anglia Ruskin University, this three-year full-time programme develops your skills across the full range of professional writing forms, including poetry, drama, short fiction, journalism, news, and features. You will explore what makes a narrative compelling, how form and genre shape meaning, and how writers have responded to the challenges and possibilities of their moment. The literary studies strand gives you depth in the tradition, exposing you to the range and variety of English writing and developing your critical vocabulary for talking about what texts do and why.

The combination ensures that your creative work is informed by wide reading and rigorous analysis, and that your literary study is animated by the understanding of a practitioner.

Graduates from writing and English literature programmes go on to careers in publishing, journalism, copywriting, content creation, public relations, education, the civil service, and the arts. Many work in roles where writing is central even if writing itself is not the job title: marketing managers, policy advisers, and charity communications officers all depend on the ability to write clearly and with purpose. Postgraduate study in creative writing, English literature, journalism, and publishing is a natural progression for those who wish to develop their practice or pursue research.